Terrible Turing hasn’t given up on Toxoplasmosis (or its Karma)

The biopharmaceutical company’s Swiss division just published computational studies aiming to improve Daraprim, after its former CEO, Martin Shkreli, attempted to justify the scandalous 5000% price hike as a boost for its R&D.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that has infected up to 6B people worldwide. Most only register minor flu-like symptoms, but it can be fatal for people with compromised immune systems, notably HIV/AIDS patients and babies. The current standard of treatment is an enzyme inhibitor branded as Daraprim (pyrimethamine), and this small molecule was the object of the Turing pricing scandal.

ADVERTISEMENT

Figure 1. Cat owners are at risk of inhaling the parasite from their pets’ litter boxes.

Most obviously, they are still a pie in the sky: the ‘discovery’ has not yet proceeded to synthesis or pharmacological screening. More troublingly, the study did not bring anything new to the table regarding potential new therapeutic approaches. It did not expand upon or deviate from the current approach, instead relying upon brute-force trial-and-error computing to come up with molecules that might fit into the binding pocket.

Figure 2. The price increase on Daraprim made it impossible for community pharmacies to stock the drug, so outpatients were forced to go to specialty pharmacies to obtain their medication.

While the new candidates may theoretically have much-improved selectivity for the enzyme to decrease side effects, the other half of their appeal, increased potency, simply means the pill could be smaller. It’s possible that one of these updated versions could replace Daraprim, but given that the current development effort is devoted to refining a therapy that has been around for more than 60 years, it is unlikely to launch the treatment to the blockbuster level.

Labiotech.eu is the leading digital media covering the European Biotech industry. Over 150,000 monthly visitors use it to keep an eye on the business and innovations in biotechnology. Hope you'll enjoy reading our stories!